Neither is destroying the heritage and livability Oregon cities. But that’s the false choice being proposed by the new Oregon House Bill 2007, sponsored by Representatives Tina Kotek (D), North Portland, and Duane Stark (R), Grants Pass. Styled as “anti-NIMBY” legislation, it would strip local governments of most powers to regulate the design of new residential construction, except in a few cases. It would also greatly weaken the ability to provide heritage district designations, which offer sometimes crucial protection against demolitions of historic structures. Not surprisingly, Restore Oregon, the Architectural Heritage Center, neighborhood associations, and many other groups are beginning to mount fierce oppositions to the bill.

Let’s be clear about the problem. Oregon is growing – by 69,000 new residents in 2016 – and Portland is driving much of the growth (it’s in the top ten fastest growing metro areas in the nation, according to Forbes). Clearly those folks need housing, and without new supply, competition for existing supply will grow, along with demand — and prices.

But price growth does not occur in a vacuum. Part of the reason for Oregon’s population growth in the first place is its relative affordability in relation to California, Washington and other states. To some extent, those prices will tend to equalize over time, regardless of local policy. For example, a building boom might just attract even more migrants, soaking up any new supply and putting us back in the same position. (This phenomenon is called “induced demand,” and it’s the reason that facile if profitable solutions like “just build more” — houses, freeways, whatever — often don’t work.)

Nor are many of the new projects going to do much about affordable housing anyway. (Like the expensive new high rises with Mt Hood views allowed under the new Central City 2035 plan, and other inherently costly housing that will tend to draw even more high-income residents to Portland.) The City, Metro, and the State all seem at times neurotic in their determination to address quantity without quality. To protect existing residents, the region would be better off to enact targeted policies to help owners and renters, like tax abatements for owners, and incentive tools to help existing renters.

That still leaves an immediate and real problem of accommodating the growth that will occur in any case. The answer is not to blame the victims.

Existing residents are victims when they see historic buildings demolished on their streets, when they see disruptive, ugly new developments, and when they see the livable quality of their neighborhoods deteriorate. The fact is, we in the planning and development industry (and I speak as a long-standing representative) are the ones who create NIMBYs, when we trade a meadow for a strip mall, a bungalow for a McMansion — or a human-scaled boulevard for a street full of boxy, trendy-today, ugly-tomorrow “space invaders”. Residents fear that new development will degrade their quality of life — and based on the evidence of their experience, they are sadly not wrong.

A new residential building on Hawthorne Boulevard. Context-sensitive?

But new developments don’t have to be ugly, disruptive, or destructive of our livable heritage. Neighbors don’t have to be stiff-armed by governments, invited into tokenistic “involvement” that treats them disrespectfully at best – and they know it. (I am often on the development side of that table, and I know how the game is played – although I hope I do not ever give in to that profitable temptation.)

Instead, I think we in the planning and development field — at its worst the “Architectural-Industrial Complex” if I am honest with you — need to do a more sincere job trying to convert NIMBYs to YIMBYs – “Yes In My Back Yard”. At the same time, the neighborhood residents need to do a better job specifying under what conditions that win-win approach might operate. Right now the process is unnecessarily adversarial, and the winner is too often just plain bad development.

Even more important, we don’t need a cumbersome, capricious review process that reliably seems to get us the worst of both worlds — a slow and uncertain entitlement that adds unnecessary cost, AND a result that is increasingly bizarre, formulaic, and/or disruptive of livable character. Too often the only winners in this system are those that can game it for all it’s worth. Too often the system produces jammed-in buildings, reaching the very maximum FAR and other “design by numbers.” Then architects get to sprinkle on the latest fashionable novelty eye candy — theme-packagers for toxic industrial products? — and everyone can then pretend that some great artistic addition has been made to the city. In a few decades, when it’s far too late, we realize again that we’ve been had, with yet another generation of failed modernist buildings.

A new courtyard apartment in Northwest Portland, following time-tested patterns of livability

Portland is full of beautiful, context-sensitive precedents for higher-density housing. A healthier process would bring in residents together with planners early on, to develop “preferred entitlement paths” for designs based on pre-accepted precedents. The precedents would demonstrate, through the evidence of history, how they would mitigate negative impacts on livability, and add positive impacts. If developers came in with proposals that fit those criteria (and others as needed, like preserving or moving elements of historic fabric) they could get a streamlined entitlement – and other incentives too for doing good development. (There are a number of examples of how this can work, including a proposal for Metro a few years back that I helped co-author.)

This is what the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, my old shop in London, calls “Beauty in My Back Yard” — a win-win approach to development. If we accept the fact that heritage and livability are important, but growth is natural (just as it was in the past), we can map out a win-win future that grows with our heritage and our livability, instead of against it.

A typical “step-back” detail, of the kind increasingly seen in new “form-based zoning codes”. (Image: Sterling Codifiers)

In the polarized debate over new development, it’s unfortunately common to overlook the “win-win strategies” – the ones that achieve the City’s goals of accommodating new growth with sustainable patterns, that make reasonable profits for developers, and that mitigate negative impacts on existing residents, and preserve and even enhance the existing livability of the city.

Yet good tools do exist to mitigate these impacts, and to produce good quality, win-win development. Here we focus on just one, the venerable “step-back.” This is a change in the building edge where it “steps back,” usually from the street (or sometimes the rear or side of the lot) as it gets higher. (Typically a “setback” is where the entire building footprint is “set back” from any of the property lines.)

The step-back came to prominence as part of the 1916 New York Zoning Resolution, which came in the wake of an explosive growth of skyscrapers in that city. The code required a series of step-backs as a building got taller, thereby mitigating impacts from shadowing and other negative effects. But the code had the unintended benefit of leading to a new generation of “sculpted” buildings, like the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building and many other icons of the era. New York architect Hugh Ferriss produced a series of influential drawings that showed how this worked (see below).

Above: Architect Hugh Ferris’ drawings of how step-back codes generate a very attractive urban form. Upper left, what the code specifies. Upper right, the code applied to a site plan. Lower left, the massing re-interpreted as a series of rectilinear forms. Lower right, the final form, reflecting adjustments to make a functional plan on each level.The skyline of New York, transformed by the code into a series of sculpted forms, stepping back from the streets for light, air and sky view.

Why have we mostly forgotten about step-backs? Profit-minded developers usually make more money when they go straight up from the street. That creates more unit floorspace, and reduces the cost from tricky corners, roofing, decking and flashing that are often required for step-backs. But for a city like Portland, this is a problem: taller buildings on our small blocks tend to loom over the street, exacerbating problems with view, wind, massing, visual disruption and the like.

And of course, profit for developers is not the only criterion that must be considered. A developer has a legal obligation to mitigate the impact of any development on the quality and value of its neighbors. Property rights are one thing, but as Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once wryly observed — in a legal admonition that developers and libertarians alike must bear in mind — “My freedom to swing my fist ends at your nose!”

But going straight up is precisely what a generation of failed “modernist” projects did in the 1960s, with very unhappy results. The era of modernist fiascoes led to a series of reforms, in Portland and other cities. In their place we saw a generation of more human-scaled, more contextual buildings and civic spaces. We also saw plenty of profitable new development, taking seriously its civic responsibility to add to the public realm and the livable city — and to mitigate its negative impacts.

But now a form of amnesia has taken hold. The outscale modernist buildings are back, with colorful artistic packaging and all manner of ‘bolt-on green” features. These new structures are certainly profitable for the developers, and for their investors and buyers, who increasingly represent offshore capital (e.g. from China, Russia et al) – as many recent news accounts have documented.

Portland leadership has seemed curiously unwilling to engage this new wave of development and hold it accountable. Many in the City have even gone along with so-called “greenwashing” and “bean-counting” arguments, which say that anything that delivers more jobs, housing units and density is automatically a positive form of growth for the City. A kind of “Architectural-Industrial Complex” has taken the fore, aggressively promoting (without evidence) its claims for a progressive agenda.

Portland’s 12 West building, running the full length of the block, with NO step-backs. Not a good model! (Image: Downtown Development Group)

But the lessons of history sadly demonstrate the follies of this kind of approach. And history also demonstrates that we have choices available to us — choices for better alternatives.

While we have coddled ill-conceived, out-scale developments with “greenwashing” and “kool-aid drinking” — selling the (profitable) fantasy of a utopian “Little Vancouver” — we have simultaneously created a byzantine approval process that adds major risk and cost to projects — and paradoxically incentivizes lowest-common-denominator development. A better strategy would be to reward good quality development with greater certainty and streamlining of the process. These model forms of development could be agreed to by the neighborhoods in concept, making entitlement processes smoother, less likely to face opposition, and therefore offering lower risk and higher profit to good quality developers.

There are good tools and strategies available for a more successful, win-win approach to development. Portland architect Laurence Qamar, for example, recently created a series of step-back proposals for the development of the Woodstock Corridor. Instead of the boxy, ungainly “space invaders” that have bedeviled other parts of the city, Qamar’s step-back code would assure that buildings step down to the street, and to existing residential and low-rise areas. Developers using this code would trade the cost of the step-backs for a much greater certainty, stronger community support, higher quality and appeal, and lower risk for the project overall. Thats a win-win by any definition.

Qamar’s code would require a building over a certain height to step down to the street, and to adjacent residential lots.An example of what a building might look like after following Qamar’s code. (Images: Qamar and Associates)

London is full of great livable streets like this one — but many of them are in peril.

Portland is not the only city in which good intentions to involve neighborhoods has devolved into a dysfunctional system bent on suppressing “NIMBYs.” From The Guardian:

[London] Mayor Sadiq Khan recently released a good practice guide for regeneration. He recommended residents take part in shaping plans at an early stage.

Yet the consultation process remains a common complaint. It has been criticised as a tokenistic exercise, conducted alongside a PR drive to persuade residents of the merits of a plan already decided without them. Nicholas Boys Smith, founding director of the social enterprise Create Streets, believes the failure to listen to existing residents is a missed opportunity to get good ideas and “co-design” things together with other stakeholders.

“Quite often residents are rightly cynical about consultation,” said Boys Smith.

Is Portland heading for a disastrous failure, as the result of inadequate development plans for the new square being proposed for Northwest Portland? If so, on May 4th you can help prevent it.

The site is the former Con-way trucking company property, so the project is variously known as “Con-way Square” or “Slabtown Square.” For many years it all looked so positive – Portland would gain a new neighborhood square that functions like a European piazza, a gathering place where children can play, people in the neighborhood go to shop or talk, sit out at cafes and restaurants, and pass through, offering the opportunity for social networks to form; a place where parents and elders relax on benches with backrests, in the sun or shade, to talk or watch children play.

Great public squares have consistent ingredients, including good shape, light, relation to private spaces and other basics.

Seeking to sell off most of their 25 acres of land in Portland’s Northwest District, the trucking and logistics firm Con-way Inc. collaborated with NW District residents and the City to develop a Master Plan that would please all, and provide a model for mixed use human scale neighborhood development across the US. Residents’ special request was for a neighborhood square, and thousands of community volunteer hours were donated to help move the project along.

It looked as if Portland’s urban planning might once again lead American cities and create a place rare in America, a catalyst for community, bringing diverse people together and generating democratic dialogue. The master plan specified a flexible space, “to support commerce, activities, and events such as farmers/public markets, dining, fairs, art shows, and small musical performances, etc.”

A square like this provides an ideal setting for children to learn social skills. And on top of that, a sociable square is good for everyone’s health! Research shows that when you have a rich network of friends, neighbors and familiars whom you meet daily, you do not get sick so often; if you get sick it is not so serious; and you live to a riper old age. This is described as having a strong “social immune system”.

The block chosen for the neighborhood square, 290 West, is deliberately located at the southern end of the Con-way development to knit together the historic, primarily single family housing population with the new residents in condos and apartments. While the overall density was set at maximum 3:1 Floor Area Ratio or “FAR”, it was envisioned that the southern section, particularly around the square, would be much lower (there is no minimum FAR here), and the unused FAR would be transferred to the northern blocks to create taller buildings against the freeway. The lowered FAR around the square would enable the design of a successful, human scale piazza. With 3 and 4-story townhouses and apartments over shops, it would step down the development to the scale of the historic neighborhood.

As the master plan specifies, “massing is carefully addressed to ensure that new structures are compatible with desired neighborhood characteristics… to balance desired densities with livability and positive urban qualities, with a strong emphasis on the quality of the pedestrian realm.”

It was specified that the massing of adjacent buildings should “optimize solar exposure”; that the public realm should be expanded by “articulating the façade plane to step down to the open space”; and that “the size of the square should be approximately 135 x 135 feet”, i.e. 18,225 sq. ft. In a sociable square, surrounding buildings are low enough that when a group stands talking in the center of the square each person can see a little sky above the buildings she is facing. The square must receive morning and late afternoon sun, especially in spring and fall. These requirements call for building setbacks, and limit building heights on the East and West sides.

Guardian Real Estate Services eagerly took up the challenge. To design a successful neighborhood square would be a tremendous PR coup. The value of property adjacent to a successful square would be high. The popularity of the square for neighborhood and city residents would ensure a legacy of success for Guardian. And a successful new square would ensure press coverage in architecture, real estate, planning and business media throughout the US, if not the world.

Guardian hired a young firm, YBA architects, to design the square and the mixed use housing to frame it. For over two years they worked with the Northwest District Residents Association (NWDA) and a Square Subcommittee. But the process fell apart because Guardian insisted on using almost the maximum 3:1 FAR on the site. At every meeting it was pointed out that they were trying to cram 8 pounds of sand into a 5 pound bag – it just would not fit. NWDA was not satisfied, and the Portland Design Review Board rejected it.

Guardian has now hired the large architectural firm LRS, which has successfully built many buildings in Portland. Their proposal, which they will take directly to the Design Review Board on May 4th, shrinks the square to a claustrophobic courtyard in a monolithic 3-sided building. The U-shaped building overhangs the square by 20 feet on East and West sides, leaving a space from building wall to building wall of only 65 feet. The size of this “courtyard” open to the sky is now 130 x 65 feet – less than half that recommended in the Master Plan. Moreover, two and a half sides of the U-shaped building are seven stories high! Sunlight will not penetrate this chasm for more than a brief period in the middle of the day. The dark, narrow, oppressive gap between the building wings is unsatisfactory even for a private courtyard. And in a ludicrous maneuver, they pretend all the space beneath the overhanging buildings, and two dark tunnel “breezeways” beneath the 65’ deep blocks are part of the “square”.

What is Guardian thinking? This is a worse solution than before, in no way fulfilling the requirements of a neighborhood square. Do they think Design Review will accept it because LRS has been successful in passing review so many times before and must be well known by members of the Committee? Or do they plan, if rejected, to sue the City, assuming the Commission will buckle under the threat?

I think Guardian has been thoroughly unrealistic throughout this process. In the beginning, they insisted on cramming almost the maximum allowable building volume (3:1 FAR) onto the site, even though it was clear in the General Plan that density on 290 West should be much lower in order to create a successful square, and the surplus FAR should be transferred to the northernmost blocks. Now, Guardian has apparently bought the adjacent two streets, and transferred the FAR from the streets onto 290 West to dramatically increase the FAR on the 200 x 200 foot building site to 4.8:1. Who benefits from this?

This rationale is intolerable. Guardian’s proposal in no way satisfies the performance requirements of a neighborhood square. The only solution is to design the square to be a truly successful square, with mixed use, human scale buildings stepped back to maximize sunlight, and then transfer (sell back) the unused FAR for future development on the northern blocks.

I, for one, would gladly donate more time and effort to bring this about. A successful, beloved neighborhood square would be a grand contribution to the health and wellbeing of generations to come!

The rendering showing the sun at 4PM in the summer. The square is almost entirely in shadow.

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About this blog…

Welcome! This forum presents an alternate perspective on the current challenges facing the city of Portland, Oregon. What effective solutions are available? What is the actual evidence that they will work, or not? How can these lessons be applied in Portland? We will pass along regular entries on timely issues from other parts of the world, comparing notes on our challenges here. We will also offer our own commentaries and those of Portland-area colleagues.

Portland is rightly regarded as an important global model of urbanism and of urban successes. Portland started with the advantage of small blocks, facilitating walkability; the Urban Growth Boundary was created in the 1970s, about the same time a freeway along the waterfront was replaced with Tom McCall Waterfront Park; Portlanders’ love of their natural setting ensured tree-lined streets and efforts to protect views of snow-capped Mt. Hood; a proposed multi-story garage in the city center became Pioneer Courthouse Square in 1984, thanks to community effort, and many other squares and parks have followed; a streetcar system and light rail were started, which gradually helped to generate suburban neighborhood centers, improving walkability; a compact mixed-use neighborhood began to replace the old industrial area of the Pearl District, initially at a good human scale; and early development of bike lanes positioned Portland as a leading US city for bicycle planning.

But we must be honest: Portland is also, and increasingly of late, a model of what can go wrong. But that too is an invaluable contribution to share with other cities, as they share their lessons with us. In that process, we may all learn from our mistakes as well as our successes, and find a path to becoming better cities. We may thereby reverse the downward spiral of so many cities today, including Portland – losing their affordability, losing their diversity, losing their architectural heritage, and becoming places of isolation, homelessness, traffic congestion and – for too many – economic stagnation, and declining quality of life.

Our chief bloggers are Suzanne Lennard and Michael Mehaffy, both with Ph.D. degrees in architecture (at UC Berkeley and Delft University of Technology, respectively) but also with wide interests in sociology, public health, anthropology, psychology, economics, public affairs, and above all, the ingredients of livable, sustainable cities, and how we can get and keep them. This perspective is informed by seminal scholars in urban issues including Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, William H. Whyte, Christopher Alexander, Lewis Mumford and others, and also by cutting-edge new research. We hope you'll find it thought-provoking at least, and find some of the ideas inspiring, as we have...